Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) Stock

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) had its price target upped by investment analysts at Scotiabank from $190.00 to $220.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the software maker’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target points to a potential upside of 19.03% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on QLYS. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Qualys from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of Qualys from $155.00 to $125.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Northland Securities set a $208.00 target price on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Qualys from $139.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, William Blair lowered Qualys from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Qualys currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.87.

Qualys Price Performance

Shares of Qualys stock traded up $23.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $184.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 843,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 766,222. Qualys has a 12 month low of $74.51 and a 12 month high of $201.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $131.16 and a 200 day moving average of $110.99. The company has a market capitalization of $6.51 billion, a PE ratio of 33.17 and a beta of 0.60.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The software maker reported $1.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.78 by $0.20. Qualys had a return on equity of 37.15% and a net margin of 29.41%.The business had revenue of $182.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $178.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.68 EPS. Qualys’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Qualys has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.740-7.880 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.910-1.980 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Qualys will post 5.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Qualys

In other Qualys news, CEO Sumedh S. Thakar sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 196,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,552,610. The trade was a 13.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 882 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.17, for a total transaction of $139,505.94. Following the transaction, the insider owned 62,689 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,915,519.13. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 76,855 shares of company stock valued at $9,706,670 over the last quarter. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in QLYS. Strive Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Qualys in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Qualys by 204.3% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 213 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC raised its position in Qualys by 206.2% during the first quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC now owns 297 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Qualys in the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Qualys by 127.0% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 345 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.31% of the company’s stock.

More Qualys News

Here are the key news stories impacting Qualys this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations. Qualys reported earnings of $1.98 per share, above the $1.78 analyst consensus and up from $1.68 a year earlier. Revenue increased 11.1% year over year to $182.18 million, exceeding estimates of $178.57 million. Qualys Tops Q2 Earnings and Revenue Estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Full-year guidance was raised substantially. Qualys now expects 2026 revenue of $732 million to $738 million, compared with its prior range of $721 million to $727 million. Full-year EPS guidance of $7.74 to $7.88 is also above the $7.16 consensus estimate. Third-quarter revenue and EPS forecasts likewise topped Wall Street expectations. Qualys Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Profitability and demand trends remain supportive. Adjusted EBITDA reached $83.8 million. Management highlighted AI-related security products, Risk Operations Center adoption, federal business momentum, partner execution and early QFlex engagement as growth opportunities.
• Positive Sentiment: New vulnerability-detection technology could support future sales. Qualys launched InstaScan, designed to identify newly disclosed vulnerabilities rapidly using existing asset telemetry and AI-driven correlation. Qualys Launches InstaScan
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor outreach is scheduled. Qualys management will participate in a fireside chat and hold one-on-one meetings at Canaccord Genuity’s 46th Annual Growth Conference. The event may provide additional visibility but does not immediately change financial forecasts. Qualys to Speak at Upcoming Investor Conference
• Negative Sentiment: An insider sale provides a modest counterpoint. CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,627 shares for approximately $249,000 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale represented about 2.1% of her holdings and is less concerning than an unexpected discretionary sale, but continued insider selling may temper sentiment.

Qualys Company Profile

Qualys, Inc (NASDAQ: QLYS) is a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions designed to help organizations streamline their IT security programs. Operating on a unified, modular platform, Qualys offers continuous visibility into global IT assets through a combination of lightweight cloud agents and on-premises scanner appliances. The platform supports an array of security and compliance use cases, enabling real-time detection of vulnerabilities, policy violations and misconfigurations across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company’s flagship Qualys Cloud Platform delivers a suite of integrated applications, including vulnerability management, detection and response (VMDR), policy compliance, web application scanning, file integrity monitoring, asset inventory and container security.